Page 338 - Gulf Precis (V)_Neat

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627. Midhut Pasha also again asserted that Bahrein was not within Turk­
ish contemplation, and assured Colonel Herbert that his orders to the Officer
Commanding the expedition were on no account to turn his eyes on Bahrein.
528. Sir H. Elliot wrote in Septerabor 1871 that ho had made Ali Pasha
undorstand that Her Majesty’s Government would not soe with indifference any
attempt to disturb the arrangements existing with regard to the Arab tribes in
the Persian Gulf.
62J. Again in February 1872 the Secretary of State forwarded papers
received from Constantinople. Server
Proceeding*, Secret, M«y 1872, Noi. 62-88.
Pasha desired M. Pisani to slate that Her
Majesty’s Government might rest assured that the policy followed previously
by the Porte towards tho independent tribes along the Persian Gulf had under­
gone no alteration whatever, and His Excellenoy asserted again on the part of
the Porte that no intention was ever entertained, nor any design harboured, to
subdue those tribes or obtain any supremacy over them. The sole object of
the Nojd expedition he stated to have been, and still to be, to restore order and
tranquillity there, and establish a regular aud cohesive administration more in
conformity with the requirements of the country.
630. In April 1872 the Bombay Government wrote that they attached no
importance to the assurances of the Turk­
Proceeding!, Secret, May 1872, No. 77.
ish Government as reported in the papers
received from Constantinople, as there was no information as to what tribes in
the Persian Gulf would be considered by them to bo independent, or what they
considered to be tho limits of the Kingdom of Nejd. The Government of
Bombay thought that some specific declaration as to what the claims were
should be at once obtained. The Government of India replied that the assur­
ances repeatedly given by the Turkish Government, to the effect that they had
no intention of obtaining supremacy over Bahrein, Maskat, or the other inde­
pendent tribes on tho coast of the Persian Gulf, were accepted as satisfactory
and that it was not considered expedient or likely to lead to any good result to
ask for a specific declaration of the claims of the Turkish Government.
631. The policy of Her Majesty’s Government was laid down in the follow­
ing despatch, dated 9th May 1872, addressed to the British Ambassador at
Constantinople:—
u I have received of lute, through the Foreign Office, repeated representations from the
Government of India respecting the proceedings of the Turkish authorities in the Persian Gulf,
more especially with reference to the increase which the Porte has recently made in the number
of vessels employed in those waters.
Her Majesty* t Government, however, consider that as long as Turkey is engaged m
upholding its legitimate authority in the Gulf, they cannot atk it to curtaitthe means which it
considers necessary for doing so, but they may fairly say to the Porte that they trust and
expect that no attempt will be made to extend that authority, which would raise questions
between the Indian Government and the Porte, the maintenance of tho existing Btate of things
in the Gnlf and on its borders being considered a matter of groat importance to the general
tranquillity of those quarters; and that the presence of large Turkish armaments is generally
calculated to disquiet the bordering countries, and must necessarily cause of the British Govern­
ment to take counteracting steps to reassure the public mind.
If the presence of an excessive Turkish force requires the Indian Government to increase
the British force in the Gulf, the native mind will see in the latter an encouragement, not only
to resist, but to thwart the Porte, and things will go on from bad to worse, till at last, even in
(he admitted Turkish districts, a general feeling of uneasiness will be produced, and will cost
the'Porte more to subdue or mitigate than the country it worth.
I have, therefore, to instruct Your Lordship, while expressing to the Porte the views of
Her Majesty’s Government on this point, to state that they will gladly use their good offices
to restore peace and bring matters to a normal state of tranquillity.”
632. This despatch was duly oommunicated to Server Pasha in June 1872,
and he repeated the assurance, already so oflon given, of tho absence of all in­
tention on the part of the Porte of doing more than re-establish their legitimate
authority in those districts whore their right was undisputed, adding that Her
Majesty’s Government might be satisfied'that since tho recall of Midhut Pasha
there would be less than ever a disposition to extend the field of operations.